


Rekindled

by ArgentLives



Series: live in gal pals [12]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/F, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-19
Updated: 2015-09-19
Packaged: 2018-04-21 11:07:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4826819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArgentLives/pseuds/ArgentLives
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Totally, she’s just like that girl who you—Iris? You okay?” He waved a hand in front of her face, puzzled, as Iris stared straight ahead, apparently frozen in shock. She’d stopped abruptly as soon as they’d made their way through the door, as soon as she’d spotted Cisco leaning against the counter, immersed in conversation with a tall-ish, well-muscled, ridiculously attractive woman dressed in all black, who was absentmindedly twirling a fighting staff in her hand as she talked. The Black Canary, Iris’s mind supplied, but also—</p><p>“<em>Dinah?</em>”</p><p>[or: after years of not seeing each other, Iris unexpectedly runs into her old flame]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rekindled

**Author's Note:**

> written for the prompt: "exes meeting again after not speaking for years au"

“I think you’re really gonna like her, Iris,” Barry babbled excitedly, face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Laurel’s awesome. She reminds me of you, actually, in a lot of ways. Almost as stubborn, anyway.  _Almost_ ,” he repeated pointedly, grinning at her, “Not quite.”

Iris narrowed her eyes at Barry and elbowed him in the side—or at least she tried to. He quickly dodged out of the way, making her stumble, her arm connecting with thin air, as they walked side-by-side into STAR Labs.

“Ha-ha. Tease all you want, Barry Allen–but you just compared me to my  _favorite_  superhero in the process, so your insults mean nothing to me.”

“I wasn’t—it wasn’t an insult! Just a fact!” Barry pouted as they rounded the corner. “And favorite? Really Iris? That was a low blow.”

“You had it coming. Also, it’s wasn’t an  _insult_ , Barry. Just a fact.” Iris grinned, echoing his words, and shrugged unapologetically. “So, speaking of my favorite superhero, the one who totally isn’t you, you know,  _the Black Canary,_  you were saying…?”

She smirked at him, raising an eyebrow as if to say  _‘I’m waiting’._ He stuck out his tongue at her in response, pretending to be seriously offended for another half-a-second before relenting. “Hmph. Right. Well, she’s impossible not to like. I mean, Cisco thinkshe’s in love with her,” Barry made a face, stopping in the doorway, and Iris patted his shoulder sympathetically. 

“Aww, come on, you know that’s not really true. The Black Canary might be my favorite superhero, but I think for Cisco that spot’s already reserved for someone else.”

Barry gave her a grateful smile, linking arms with her as they resumed walk, leading the way into the cortex. “Yeah, himself, probably,” he joked, but Iris could tell he was hanging onto what she’d said, willing it to be true. “Anyway, I don’t know about Cisco’s preferences, but Laurel is exactly your type.”

“Oh, really?”

“Totally, she’s just like that girl who you–Iris? You okay?” He waved a hand in front of her face, puzzled, as Iris stared straight ahead, apparently frozen in shock. She’d stopped abruptly as soon as they’d made their way through the door, as soon as she’d spotted Cisco leaning against the counter, immersed in conversation with a tall-ish, well-muscled, ridiculously attractive woman dressed in all back, who was absentmindedly twirling a fighting staff in her hand as she talked.  _The Black Canary_ , Iris’s mind supplied, but also—

“ _Dinah?_ ”

As soon as the word left Iris’s mouth, the woman tensed, turning towards where Iris stood frozen in the doorway with a slight frown. Her gaze fell on Iris, confused and wary, before something seemed to click. Her eyes widened in shock and recognition. 

“Oh my God,” she breathed, surveying Iris up and down before finally meeting her equally stunned gaze. “ _Iris_? Where have you _been_ all this time?” And then, almost as an after-thought, she added, “And I go by Laurel now, by the way. It’s my—” 

“—middle name, yeah, I remember now,” Iris shook her head, still struggling to process it all, memories from what felt like a lifetime ago suddenly hitting her full force. “You’re just trying on all kinds of different names for size these days, apparently. The Black Canary, huh? I’m impressed. Like,  _really_  impressed.”

“Right…about that…it’s kind of a long story, but I–”

“Hold up—you two know each other?” Cisco cut in, slack-jawed, shuffling over to Barry’s side.

“Yeah,” Iris said, tearing her gaze away from Dinah—Laurel, she corrected herself—and reluctantly turning her attention to Cisco. God, she still looked just as good as Iris remembered, if not even better, which was sort of amazing, considering she’d always been so fucking gorgeous. The black leather costume was doing wonders for her, anyway. “We actually—well, we actually dated for a while, back in college.”

It had been a really, really good while too, Iris thought with a pang. The break up hadn’t been messy, exactly—they’d just both had so much going on in their lives at the time, and they’d decided, albeit both reluctantly, that it was best to call it quits before graduating. It had been the smart thing to do—they were both just beginning to figure their lives out, both in their senior year of college, both going for different things. For Iris, it had been grad school in Central City. For Laurel, it happened to be law school in Starling. 

Neither of them had been at a point where they could’ve managed anything long-distance, and in the end, they’d ended because their schedules just hadn’t agreed with each other, and it would have been too hard, too emotionally taxing, to try to make it work. They’d kept in contact for a little while, afterward, but life had gotten in the way, and they’d realized pretty quickly that there was too much history between them to be _just_  friends, to deny themselves of anything more, and so they’d sort of just…lost contact. It had hurt too much, anyway, knowing what they were giving up. In any event, Iris hadn’t seen or heard from Laurel, the first woman she’d ever really loved, in  _years_.

Until today, apparently.

“Wait,” Barry said slowly, eyes darting back and forth between the two, “ _This_  is Dinah? Theoh-so-elusive girlfriend you never got around to introducing me to but you swore up and down every time we talked that you were head-over-heels for?”

“Barry,” Iris hissed, feeling the heat rush to her face in embarrassment. “I  _was—_ I mean, I didn’t—”

“That was my fault, actually,” Laurel spared her the burden of responding, looking adorably sheepish. And even though she was addressing Barry, she kept her gaze fixed entirely on Iris, offering up a rueful little smile. Iris repressed a groan at the sudden, fluttery feeling in her stomach. Even after all this time, that smile still gave her butterflies. “I was so busy all the time, with pre-law stuff and all. And I had this ridiculous internship that summer, so even then I had no time to spare. Now that I think about it, I remember Iris always mentioning taking me home to meet her family, which I’m assuming now probably included you, but it just–it never worked out. But hey, I guess I did end up meeting you after all, just…not like that?”

“Wow,” Barry blinked, before beaming at the two of them. “Well, see, Iris—I was right then! She  _is_ exactly your type.”

Iris groaned and dropped her head in her hands, squeezing her eyes shut in mortification. “You have _no tact_ whatsoever _,_ Barry Allen.”

“You’re still my type, too, if that makes you feel any better,” Laurel supplied, laughter evident in her voice. Iris opened her eyes to find Laurel grinning at her, a curious expression on her face. It was…soft, almost. Curious, intrigued, and…hopeful? Iris bit down on her lip, mind and heart racing at the unexpected onslaught of feelings, memories she’d held onto, hadn’t wanted to let go. They both were at a more stable, more mature, point in their lives, after all, maybe, just maybe…

“Would you…would you maybe want to go get some coffee with me? It’s just—it’s been so long. And you’re a  _superhero_  now. I want details.”

“Yeah,” Laurel’s smile widened, and yeah, that was definitely hope in her eyes. “Yeah, that sounds like a great idea.”

“Perfect, you remember Jitters—?”

“Iris, uh, I hate to interrupt,” Barry interjected, looking genuinely apologetic. Cisco tugged on his sleeve and then poked him in the side, but he didn’t seem to get the hint. “But are we still going to—”

“Later!” Iris waved him off, giving him a significant look, her tell-tale ‘don’t-screw-this-up-for-me-or-so-help-me-god-I-will-end-you’ look. “ _Laurel_  and I have some catching up to do.”

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted on my [tumblr](http://bisexualiriswest.tumblr.com/), as most of these prompt fills are.


End file.
